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ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ALL AROUND THE WORLD ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY, APRIL 23, 2016

CAPE TOWN

Burchell’s Travels – The Life, Art and Journeys of William John Burchell

AntiquarianAuctions.com and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) on World Book Day, 23 April 2016

On Saturday April 23, 2016 rare book dealers will focus world attention on rare books and associated materials. At this time, when UNESCO and many others throughout the world celebrate literacy, ILAB book dealers will once again run a worldwide 24 hour campaign to promote the trade and to raise money for literacy projects.

“The purpose of ILAB’s participation in World Book and Copyright Day is to spotlight rare books and bookselling while raising money for what is at the very foundation of all we do - literacy”, says Norbert Donhoffer, President of ILAB.

After a successful launch in 2015, AntiquarianAuctions.com, the online rare book auction platform based in Cape Town, South Africa, will participate once again in the international 24 hour event. In association with publishing house Penguin Random House, AntiquarianAuctions.com will host a talk with Susan Buchanan, the author of the recently published “Burchell’s Travels: The Life, Art and Journeys of William John Burchell”, and other experts in the field. Local collectors and botanists, local historians and the general public are invited and asked to make a donation on the day. All proceeds from the event will go to charity.

William John Burchell (23 July 1781 Fulham, London - 23 March 1863 Fulham) was an English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist and author who arrived in Cape Town in November 1810 after several years as a naturalist on St Helena island. The following year he embarked on an epic journey through the Cape Colony, lasting four years and covering 7000 kilometres, mainly through unexplored terrain. During this time he collected over 50,000 plant and animal specimens and built a vast collection of sketches and paintings. He is best known for his two-volume Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, his extraordinary map of the country, and for the many species of animals, birds and plants that are named after him.

As he explained his own scientific curiosity with strong Romantic sensibilities in the preface to the Travels:

“These collections consist of above sixty three thousand objects, inclusive of the duplicates, in every department of science… In addition to these results of the expedition, are about five hundred drawings, the subjects of which are landscapes, portraits, costume, zoology, botany, and a variety of other objects.”

Burchell is famous for his contribution to botany and Burchell’s “Map of the Extratopical Part of Southern Africa” was a milestone in the mapping of South Africa. He completed his South African journey in April 1815. His life ended tragically. Suffering from depression, he took his own life in 1863.

To date, Burchell is regarded as a pioneer in botany and as scientific traveller. His work Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa is one of the most collectable Africana publications.

“I am sure that however much the family and I myself may wish to be passing time in England, yet you all know that too long a residence at Fulham begins at last to look very much like lost time: at least you may say that while absent I am doing something”

(William Burchell, source: Pickering, p. 238)

Speakers:

Susan Buchanan holds an honours degree in psychology and a master’s degree in English literature. Her English studies developed her interest in autobiography, 19th century literature, natural history and William Burchell. Susan is the author of Burchell’s Travels: The Life, Art and Journeys of William John Burchell, published by Penguin Random House in 2015.

Paul Mills, owner of Clarke’s Africana & Rare Books and the auction platform www.antiquarianauctions.com has been an active dealer in the international rare book trade for over 35 years and is a member of rare book trade associations such as ABA, ILAB and SABDA and various international rare book organisations and collectors clubs.

Dr. John Rourke is an expert on South African botanical history and was Curator at the Compton Herbarium, National Botanical Institute, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa. He has published has published widely including important volumes on historical botany for the Brenthurst Press

Dr. Roger Stewart is a South African expert in maps. His diverse publications on Burchell have popularised the subject and the recently published book by Penguin Random House draws extensively on Stewart’s expertise.

Location & exact time for the talk will be confirmed within the next days.

In cooperation with Penguin Random House and AntiquarianAuctions.com. AntiquarianAuctions.com is an online auction site dedicated to the sale of rare and out of print books, maps & prints, documents, letters, ephemera and vintage photography. Dealers and collectors worldwide have been selling and bidding on the site since 2010. Only established booksellers who are members of major national trade associations such as ABA, ABAA, PBFA or SABDA or are of good standing in the trade are permitted to sell on the site. Auctions are held every five weeks and run on the model of a timed auction for one week. The next rare book auction date is 3-10th March 2016.

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THE INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS (ILAB) is the umbrella organization of the professional rare book trade uniting 22 national associations and around 2000 rare book dealers in 34 countries worldwide.

Rare Book Gallery

Small Collection of Signed and...

CASTRO, Fidel

1985 - A collection that includes three Signed and Inscribed books, two Inscribed photographs and an Autograph Note in English Signed. The books... More

1985 - A collection that includes three Signed and Inscribed books, two Inscribed photographs and an Autograph Note in English Signed. The books (two in wrappers, the third an embossed leatherette hardcover) are generally very good with toning and wear at the extremities; the paperbacks have additional tape repaired spines and one is also dampstained with a few scrapes. The photos are fine in wooden frames and the ANS is about very good with some light toning and tape repairs to all four corners. The books include two written by Castro himself: a 1975 second edition of *Hoy Somos Un Pueblo Entero* [*Today We Are an Entire People*] Signed and dated in the year of publication, and a 1985 first edition of *Esta Tiene Que Ser la Guerra Economica de Todo el Pueblo* [*This Must Be the Economic War of all People*] Inscribed: "Por Nuestra Patria [For Our Country] Fidel Castro." The third book is the 1951 yearbook of the University of Tampa, *Moroccan*, Inscribed on the title page on October 1955 in Spanish. Loosely translated it reads: "Thanks to Imelda and her friends of Tampa for help with our new revolution in Cuba Dr. Fidel Castro." Castro came to Tampa in November, 1955 seeking support for his revolution -- why he was asked to inscribe this yearbook is unknown. A nice collection of rare signed and inscribed material from one of the most polarizing and influential political figures of the 20th Century. In just a few items it manages to encompass his life from popular revolutionary leader and celebrity who visited the U.S. in the 1950s to attract support for his cause, to that of prime minister of the new Cuba, and later the entrenched leader of the embargo Communist nation. Further details available upon request. Less

Berlin, Reimer, 1916. - Oblong folio. 106 illustrations on 50 plates, each with separate title, in various sizes. With text booklet (2 ff., 16 pp.). Original half cloth portfolio. Rare photographic work documenting important cities and parts of the countryside in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine. Most of the photos were taken by the author during his travels between 1905 and 1915. The images of northern Hejaz, Mecca, and Medina, which Moritz was unable to visit, were taken by Turkish friends. The images also show the construction of the Hejaz Railway between Damascus and the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, as well as views of Medina, Mecca, Jeddah, Petra, and Jerusalem. - Plates and text are well preserved; portfolio shows slight traces of repairs. Less